Spring 2011 Shamatha Retreat

In this afternoon's session, Alan first gives advice on the sleep imbalances that can arise during retreat (or outside of retreat) and introduces us to the practice of "sleepitation" to ground oneself in the earth element and relax deeply when trying to sleep. He then reviews the instructions of loving-kindness for oneself in detail, after which we share an unguided 24-minute meditation on loving-kindness. The unguided meditation begins at 18:40. Q&A begins at 47:15. Alan then answers questions from this morning's practice of mindfulness of breathing, the first stage: 1. In the part of the practice when you feel the breath where it is strongest, for me it is the abdomen. This means the practice feels just like stage two of mindfulness of breathing. Is this right? 2. I've been getting headaches for a few days. I know they are being caused by tension, but I can't find the source of the tension, and meditating in the infirmary does not help. 3. In "The Attention Revolution" you say you should notice if